THE women of “Desperate Housewives” returned to work this week – just in time for a funeral.

It is believed that the service was for Rex Van De Camp (Steven Culp), who appears to have only lasted through the show’s whirlwind first season before dying of a heart attack under mysterious circumstances in the finale last spring.

“There was so much laughter at that funeral it was hardly a funeral,” executive producer/writer Tom Spezialy says, promising “plenty of wickedness” in the season ahead – but declining to confirm that it was Rex being buried.

Sporting a trophy case full of Golden Globes and Emmy nominations, the drama/comedy that parodies life in the ‘burbs returns to ABC with new episodes this fall.

“For the cast and crew it was like coming back from camp – they all gathered and compared tan lines, storylines and nominations,” he says.

This week was the first of many for the show’s newest characters, Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) and her son Matthew (Mehcad Brooks).

“She’s fantastic and really approachable, but I think people [on the set] are so in awe of her that they don’t necessarily approach her,” says Spezialy of Woodard. “We all have this same reaction; we’re all so star-struck and she’s so gracious and humble and going, ‘Why are you all so afraid of me?’ ”

Woodard, who appeared briefly on the show at the end of last season, says she is suddenly being noticed everywhere she goes.

“I heard from her that she’s being recognized around the globe already, more so than ever before,” says Spezialy. “She’s been a star for many, many years but now the celebrity is hitting.”

After a white-hot early career that won her an Emmy for the hospital series “St. Elsewhere,” Woodard had been doing TV movies and miniseries and making appearances on shows like “Hill Street Blues” and “The Practice.”

Woodard is the first black woman to be a regular cast member on “Housewives.”